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Morro, left, and Jasp rehearse Morro and Jasp in Stupefaction, which will incorporate lessons they've learned from researching "spectacle" productions, from Las Vegas to New York City. (Richard Lautens / Toronto Star)

Wed., June 14, 2017

Clowns do everything bigger: they have higher highs, lower lows and the same goes for everything in between.

They even have bigger existential crises, if you ask local clown duo Morro and Jasp, who use their latest show, Morro and Jasp in Stupefaction, to explore life’s big questions.

“It’s our biggest idea ever. Morro and Jasp are trying to find the meaning to life and meaning in life,” Amy Lee said from their rehearsal hall before this week’s opening at the Streetcar Crowsnest.

Lee was in character as Jasp, the type-A clown with a romantic streak and a thirst for fame and attention, recognizable for her puffy-sleeved blue dress and tight pigtail buns. Heather Marie Annis sat next to her as the free spirit Morro, as spontaneous as Jasp is calculated, her pigtail buns as teased and frizzy as Jasp’s are neat. If it weren’t for the red noses, you’d never tell they were sisters.

“Yeah, because we were feeling pretty bummed out by the world. And we thought, ‘What’s the point of it all?’ ” Annis said with a customary burst of energy. “How do we make money? We don’t have any benefits. How are we supposed to buy a house?” (Jasp interjected, “We can’t, not in this market.”)

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“Why does everyone hate each other? Is there going to be another war? Are we all gonna die?”

As clowns, Morro and Jasp aren’t afraid to articulate the general atmosphere of trepidation and concern that afflicts just about anyone who reads the news and blow it up to comical proportions.

In Stupefaction, their trip to the theatre to catch a play takes a turn, and the two clowns invent a new system of beliefs that, in the span of the play, attracts a group of followers, becomes corrupted and then devolves.

“That’s what we’re always doing with our shows: we take something that we’re terrified of or confused about and put it onstage. Because it’s our way of connecting and going, ‘Hey, we’re all in this together,’ ” Lee said.

Previously, Morro and Jasp have invited audiences to witness their adventures in puberty and adolescence, the corporate world and on a cooking demonstration show.

“It’s healing. We feel better when we laugh at our weaknesses. So you can laugh at our weaknesses so that you can feel better too,” Annis said.

After building a following with small-scale two-handers at the Toronto Fringe Festival and elsewhere, Lee, Annis and director Byron Laviolette are going “big” in several ways with Stupefaction, not only philosophically.

For the first time they will share the stage with performers besides themselves (or the odd audience member).

Stupefaction also includes Elliott Loran (Ride the Cyclone), Sefton Jackson (The Gulliver Project, Figaro) and Anand Rajaram (Mustard, The 39 Steps), who find themselves drawn to Morro and Jasp’s new faith.

The sixth character, according to the creators, is the theatre itself. Lee, Annis and Laviolette have spent the last year researching “spectacle” productions, from Las Vegas to New York City, and are bringing some of those lessons to Stupefaction.

The design team was brought into the rehearsal process earlier than ever to allow for more collaboration between the story and the technical elements.

“We want that feeling of ‘Whoa’ that you get when you go and see a Cirque show. It’s like you’re transported and your imagination has come to life in front of you. It’s magical,” Annis said.

But the centre of Stupefaction, as always, are Morro and Jasp, the red-nosed women beloved in Toronto theatre.

“What we’ve found in a lot of spectacle shows (is that) the story is not primary. So we wondered if we could make one of our shows, where the heart of it is relationship and story, but bring the space to life so that it still gives people a sense of awe in some way,” Lee said.

“A sense of awe is like, it’s a beautiful thing. And I think for us that is the theatre. That is the thing that we believe in and devote our lives to.”

Morro and Jasp in Stupefaction is at Streetcar Crowsnest, 345 Carlaw Ave. until June 24. See crowstheatre.com or call 647-341-7390 for tickets.

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